Fox opened Steven Spielberg’s The Post with Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks in just nine locations Friday, with a solid start. The Post is tracking at $495K Friday to Sunday of Christmas weekend, averaging $55K, which would make it the tenth-best opening-per-theater average for the year.

The Post is the highest-profile Friday limited release debut of the holiday weekend, though Christmas Day will feature the anticipated limited roll-outs of Paul Thomas Anderson’s Phantom Thread with Daniel Day-Lewis, Lesley Manville and Vicky Krieps via Focus Features as well as STXfilms’ Molly’s Game by writer-director Aaron Sorkin and starring Jessica Chastain, Idris Elba and Kevin Costner.

Sony Pictures Classics

Sony Pictures Classics Happy End by Michael Haneke joined the Friday debuts. Starring Isabelle Huppert and Jean-Louis Trintignant, the Cannes premiere took in a three-day $23,800 in three locations. Entertainment Studios Motion Pictures bowed Hostiles also in a trio of runs grossing $26K.

Late fall awards hopefuls have continued to amass good numbers amidst expansions. Neon/30West’s I, Tonya grossed $445,694 in 37 theaters, while Focus’ Darkest Hour had the widest expansion among the specialties, placing 8th in the overall box office at $4.1M.

Fox Searchlight’s The Shape of Water jumped to 726 locations for a three-day estimate of $3.05M — good enough to land it in the top 10 as of Sunday morning. SPC more than tripled its theater count for Call Me By Your Name in its fifth frame, grossing $850,736. A24’s Lady Bird, meanwhile, more than halved its theater count this weekend, though it still took in just over $1M, bringing its total to $28.3M.

The Post is Steven Spielberg’s first new limited release debut since Lincoln bowed in 11 theaters in November, 2012. Fox opened The Post starring multi-Oscar winners Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks in nine locations Friday, grossing an estimated $495K in the three-day, averaging a robust $55K. That places The Post, which has six Golden Globe nominations, 10th among the year’s highest opening per theater averages.

Lincoln, starring Daniel Day-Lewis, grossed $944,308 in its opening frame, averaging $85,846. The title went on to cume $182.2M. SPC’s Call Me By Your Name still holds the title of the year’s highest opening weekend PTA at $103,233, while A24’s Lady Bird is second with $91,109. Landing 9th for the year was Focus Features’ The Beguiled, which bowed in four locations in June, averaging $57,323. The Post will, nevertheless, likely overtake all the cumes of the specialty heavy-hitters as it goes wide in the coming weeks.

Sony Pictures Classics

Sony Classics opened Cannes debut Happy End by Michael Haneke Friday in three theaters. Starring Isabelle Huppert and Jean-Louis Trintignant, the title grossed $23,800, averaging $7,933 in three New York and L.A. theaters. Huppert and Trintignant starred in Haneke’s Best Foreign Language Oscar winner Amour, which also took the Palme d’Or in Cannes in 2012. Amour took in $68,266 in three theaters when it opened stateside in mid-December, 2012, averaging $22,755. It went on to cume over $6.7M domestically. Happy End will add cities in the New Year.

Distributors did not report second weekend grosses for last weekend’s openers as of Sunday morning.

Neon/30West’s I, Tonya played an additional 32 runs in its third frame over last weekend. The Tonya Harding-based feature starring Margot Robbie took in $445,694 in the three-day, averaging $12,046. Neon is estimating a $712,436 4-day holiday gross ($19,255 average), which will bring its cume to $1,365,586. The weekend prior, I, Tonya played five locations, taking in $176,189 ($35,238 PTA).

Fox Searchlight added 568 locations for Guillermo del Toro’s The Shape of Water starring Sally Hawkins, now in its fourth frame. In the three day, the film is tracking to take in $3.05M, ($4,201 average), while the company is estimating it’ll gross $4.3M over the holiday weekend, averaging $5,923. That will bring its cume to over $8.86M. Last weekend, The Shape of Water took in $1.738M ($11K average).

Said Searchlight Sunday morning: “With Christmas day factored in, The Shape of Water will sport a cumulative gross of nearly $9.0m by Tuesday morning, with the most lucrative week of the year just ahead of us. While we have assumed that the specialized audience would be drawn to the film based on the great critical reviews, very good CinemaScore, and awards recognition, it looks like we are beginning to gain some traction in the mainstream arena, this based on the very good numbers in theaters like the AMC Burbank 20, Arclight Sherman Oaks, The Pacific Grove in West Los Angeles, and the Thornton Place in suburban Seattle. We will finish the weekend in 9th place in the overall box office standings, quite a feat at this time of year when there are so many films in the marketplace.”

Fox Searchlight

A24 halved the number of runs for James Franco’s The Disaster Artist in its fourth weekend, playing 517 runs vs. 1,1010 last weekend. The Disaster Artist grossed $907,247 in the three-day this weekend, averaging $1,755. The feature took in over $2.63M last Friday to Sunday, averaging $2,611. The Disaster Artist has cumed over $15.7M.

SPC added 84 theaters for Call Me By Your Name’s fifth weekend in release. In 114 locations, the title starring Golden Globe nominees Thimothée Chalamet and Armie Hammer grossed $850,736, averaging $7,463 Friday to Sunday. The weekend prior, the title took in nearly $492K, averaging $16,398. Call Me By Your Name has cumed over $3.13M.

Searchlight’s Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri with Frances McDormand is closing in on $23M. Also starring Woody Harrelson, the film took in $495K in its seventh frame, averaging $1,612 Friday to Sunday. In the four-day, the distributor is estimating a $655K take ($2,134 average) bringing its cume to $22.87M.

And A24’s Lady Bird still holds a comfortable lead as the fall’s highest-grossing specialty release at $28.3M. Directed by Greta Gerwig, the film grossed $1,005,627 in 402 theaters in the three-day estimate, averaging $2,502.